The 15e The United Nations Conference on Biodiversity (COP15) ended at the start of the week with the conclusion of an agreement that was generally well received. Despite obvious shortcomings, particularly in the monitoring mechanisms, the 23 targets adopted will constitute a beacon in the coming years for the processes of implementing biodiversity protection in each of the signatory countries.
If we can hope for a real wind of change, the results of the last COPs, both in terms of climate and biological diversity, fuel the embers of cynicism. While no target has been reached at the national and international level since 1992, why have confidence in this new version of a non-binding international agreement?
Admittedly, substantial strategies and measures will be necessary in Quebec in the medium term to achieve these targets, such as a national strategy on biodiversity, but in order to maintain the momentum that was created during COP15, concrete and rapid measures are necessary. At a crucial time for our common future, the legitimate cynicism surrounding big international deals must end.
To do this, it is therefore essential that at the Quebec level, the Legault government mobilizes quickly. In this spirit of “strike while the iron is hot”, here are five proposals that could be adopted in the coming months, which would constitute structuring and bold actions, going beyond financial commitments and having the potential to give confidence in the green ambitions of the government.
1. Fund nature solutions
The next implementation plan for the Government of Quebec’s Plan for a Green Economy, funded to the tune of more than $7 billion, must integrate carbon sequestration and ecosystem adaptation to climate change in a much more substantial way. . These “nature solutions” have the potential to respond to both the challenges of the climate crisis and the decline of biodiversity. With the adoption a few days ago of a regulation making it possible to integrate forest carbon into the Quebec-California carbon exchange, the last barrier has been lifted to finally massively fund ecosystem protection and restoration projects in the agriculture, forestry and urban greening sectors.
2. The “30 by 30” at all scales
The essential role of cities and sub-national governments was widely highlighted during COP15. In this perspective, the adoption of plans to protect 30% of ecosystems by 2030 at all levels of governance – municipalities, RCMs and regions – supported by Quebec, and which would follow the logic of the development of Regional Plans for wetlands and bodies of water, would be a concrete commitment, at the local and regional level, to achieve the targets set.
3. Revision of the law on expropriation
Currently, several municipalities wish to act in favor of the protection of natural environments, but they face many obstacles and lack the tools to do so. The revision of the Expropriation Actmore particularly so that the indemnity is calculated on the basis of the fair market value at the time of the acquisition of natural environments by expropriation, would constitute a significant advance allowing the municipalities to act concretely towards the achievement of the “30 by 30 “.
4. More flexible protected areas
The implementation of other effective conservation measures (OECM), a designation which designates the spaces located outside the protected area networks, and which can be counted in the achievement of the international targets for protected areas, is also crucial. We can think of certain municipal or regional parks or territories where indigenous peoples live. These measures would not only make it possible to enhance the role of other conservation actors, but also to act more quickly, and to diversify the modes of governance. For example, 2% of protected areas in urban areas could be added to the Quebec register through the recognition of municipal regulations.
5. Caribou Protection
According to the agreement in principle concluded between Quebec and Ottawa, the provincial government is committed to publishing its final strategy no later than the end of June 2023. In order to ensure a just transition, the government should put in place financial compensation and reorientation of jobs in forestry, in order to allow communities to move towards a more diversified economy, and to promote the protection of biodiversity, including the natural habitat of caribou. Like British Columbia, where an agreement has been reached for caribou, Quebec could benefit from support from Ottawa amounting to between $500 million and $1 billion. Removing this thorn in the side of the Ottawa-Quebec relationship would allow a renewal of the federal-provincial agreement on conservation.
Beyond the goodwill demonstrated by Quebec at COP15, concrete and vigorous actions are needed in the short term to rebuild, on our scale, the relationship between humans and nature. We hope to see this green leadership express itself as soon as possible.